Help - need some quotes from Kerry about regretting his IWR vote

[MH1]

he has said several times it was a mistake - most vehemently very recently.

Someone at dailykos says they are unaware of this. Unfortunately I haven't saved those links, cuz frankly I don't agree that his vote was a mistake. I'm sure some of you saved them though, or can find them.

Can someone either post the links here, or respond to her post?

Link to the request: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/10/29/13520/220/264#c264

Thanks!

[karynnj]

1. Here are 2 apologies that I will post there

From the October 2005, Path Forward

The country and the Congress were misled into war. I regret that we were not given the truth; as I said more than a year ago, knowing what we know now, I would not have gone to war in Iraq. And knowing now the full measure of the Bush Administration’s duplicity and incompetence, I doubt there are many members of Congress who would give them the authority they abused so badly. I know I would not. The truth is, if the Bush Administration had come to the United States Senate and acknowledged there was no “slam dunk case” that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, acknowledged that Iraq was not connected to 9/11, there never would have even been a vote to authorize the use of force — just as there’s no vote today to invade North Korea, Iran, Cuba, or a host of regimes we rightfully despise.

I understand that as much as we might wish it, we can’t rewind the tape of history. There is, as Robert Kennedy once said, ‘enough blame to go around,’ and I accept my share of the responsibility. But the mistakes of the past, no matter who made them, are no justification for marching ahead into a future of miscalculations and misjudgments and the loss of American lives with no end in sight. We each have a responsibility, to our country and our conscience, to be honest about where we should go from here. It is time for those of us who believe in a better course to say so plainly and unequivocally.

From Take back America, Jan 2006

Let me say it plainly. Let me say it plainly. It's not enough to argue with the logistics or to argue about the details or the manner of the conflict's execution or the failures of competence, as great as they are. It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake. (Cheers, applause.) To say the simple words. (Applause.) To say -
- to say the simple words that contain more truth than pride.
We were misled. We were given evidence that was not true. It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution. (Cheers, applause.) And I will vote --
(prolonged cheers and applause) -- and I will vote -- (cheers and applause continuing) --

We cannot -- one of the great lessons of life is that you cannot change the future if you're not honest about the past. And we cannot have it both ways in the war in Iraq.
The truth is -- the truth is that America is imprisoned in a failed policy. And as in Vietnam, we're being told that admitting mistakes -- not the mistakes themselves -- will
provide our enemies with an intolerable propaganda victory. Well, that too, my friends, is a lie. (Applause.) And history proves it. History proves it.

[MH1]

3. Those are good, but won't satisfy this person.

I am looking for, I think, an op-ed(?) where he said, something like, "There's nothing in my life in public service I regret more, nothing even close."

That is probably the statement this poster is looking for. Of course somehow it won't be enough anyway, sigh.

[karynnj]

5. That's actually in the diary itself

[MH1]

8. Yep, I just posted an oops on that.

Thanks for replying to her!

I shouldv'e known to look back at the diary and see if it was already there - with this poster you have to leave the bar very, very low.

I should've looked anyway though. :blush:

[beachmom]

6. That was in the OP actually

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/mistakes-and-responsibili_b_31482.html

There's nothing - nothing - in my life in public service I regret more, nothing even close. We should all be willing to say: I was wrong, I should not have voted for the Iraq War Resolution.

It's not enough to talk about the incompetence and immorality of this Administration in the conduct of this war. It is not enough to point out that we were grossly misled.

But it is also not enough just to look backwards. The question today is whether leaders will take responsibility for fixing a Katrina foreign policy that kills and maims our soldiers and weakens America in the fight against terror. We must change course in Iraq.

This part is good, too:

Next time you're in Washington, take a moment to walk down to the Vietnam War Memorial, if you haven't done it.

As you walk down that path into the center of the V and you stand in the V, you can look up one end and you'll see 1960 -- earlier, 1959 -- all the way through parts of 1968, and then the other side of the wall brings us toward the end. And half the names on that wall, half the names -- stand in the center of it and look up at tens of thousands of young Americans -- half the names on that wall were lost after America's leaders knew and later acknowledged our strategy wasn't working. It was immoral then and it is immoral now to be quiet or equivocal in the face of that kind of delusion. Just think about what that Wall might look like for this war.

[MH1]

7. Oh, duh - never mind!

Like the poster in question, I failed to actually read MB's post. (well, thoroughly. well, I'd read it, but forgot that link was in there).

:blush:

[beachmom]

2. Did you see the usual suspects over there?

TeresainPA and Kimberly Stone. They LIVE solely to hate Kerry. I refuse to engage Kimberly but had to reply to Teresa since she replied to my comments. These people eat more time than the honest people who just want to learn more.

[karynnj]

4. The linked post was Kimberly

I still added it because - the take back America one says - I was wrong to vote for the IWR - you can't get more straight forward than that. (Though the diary had the Huffington Post comment that was almost heartbreaking - that he regretted it profusely - more than anything in public life.)
(By the way they have lots of speeches on JohnKerry.com now under news then speeches.)

He had said the same thing earlier this year on either MTP or This week - I didn't look forward as I thought 2 was enough - especially as I saw her on your thread.

[MH1]

10. Your response was excellent!

There are many more times. I just think whatever you put up, she'll find some excuse to have a problem with anyway.

[sandnsea]

14. Ya know

Linked in there somewhere is an entire blog post, with photo, about the thrill of flipping off Dick Cheney.

Am I just showing my age? Not that I wouldn't flip him off as quickly as anybody else - but pictures, a post AND poll??

Is this even someone to take seriously?

[karynnj]

9. To think the first time I saw TeresainPA's name

I actually read the comment to see if she was the real Teresa - and quickly realized "NO"

[cadmium]

11. This is more recent but clear

Kerry and Feingold Form Alliance on Iraq

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 27, 2006
Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- One epitomizes the Washington political establishment as the Democratic Party's most recent presidential nominee. The other is the quintessential Democratic outsider, proud to be the only senator to vote against the USA Patriot Act.

Notwithstanding their different histories, Sens. John Kerry and Russ Feingold joined forces last week to push a proposal that would have required troops to leave Iraq by July of next year. And they may soon have something else in common: Both are considering presidential races in 2008.

''It seems to be a marriage of convenience,'' said Democratic consultant Dan Payne, a former Kerry Senate campaign strategist. ''Feingold wants to be considered of presidential stature, and Kerry wants to look like he can work with others to reach a compromise.''

Both Kerry, D-Mass., and Feingold, D-Wis., insist that politics has nothing to do with it.

''Not on subjects of war and peace,'' Kerry said in a telephone interview. ''Not on subjects that involve young Americans in uniform in harm's way. As far as I'm concerned, the only consideration is what's the best policy, how do you advance the security of our country, and what do we do to do it?''

Feingold, who voted against the Iraq war resolution in 2002, last year became the first senator to call for a troop withdrawal timetable. He said he didn't mind that many news stories referred to the ''Kerry'' proposal.

''I'm not in this game for ego, and I'm not in this game for trying to figure out who should go first and who should go second,'' Feingold said in a separate telephone interview. ''This is a matter of life and death. This is a matter of our national security. And I was proud to join with another senator whom I respect to do this.''

Ann Marie Hauser, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, mocked the coupling.

''Whether it's John Kerry's indecisiveness or Russ Feingold's extremism, Democrats across the board support an approach that results in surrendering to our enemy,'' Hauser said. ''But as 2008 looms, it is interesting to watch these two senators trip over each other as they rush to the far left of their party.''

While the Senate defeated, on a 60-39 vote, a nonbinding resolution that would have urged the administration to start withdrawing troops by year's end, the Feingold-Kerry proposal went down on an 86-13 vote. By Feingold's standard, that was progress.

''You know, I was the only one in this position a year ago,'' he said. ''Now you have 13 senators, including our presidential standard-bearer, John Kerry.''

Feingold certainly doesn't mind standing alone. In 2001, he cast the only vote in the Senate against the Patriot Act, the post-Sept. 11 federal law that greatly expanded the government's authority to investigate terrorism suspects at the cost, according to its critics, of some civil liberties. His proposal to censure President Bush for a warrantless surveillance program has attracted only three co-sponsors -- one of them Kerry.

Those positions have made Feingold popular among liberal anti-Bush activists.

Feingold has been openly critical of Democrats who voted to authorize the Iraq war, even those who have since said that vote was a mistake -- a group that includes Kerry.

But Feingold said that was one reason he was so encouraged to work with Kerry.

''Let's face it -- he was our standard-bearer, he had voted for the war,'' Feingold said. ''And yet, I was able to bring him together with me to do exactly what I've believed all along, that this wasn't a good idea, and that we needed to reverse course.''

*Kerry reiterated his position, dating back to the 2004 presidential election, that he would not have gone to war had he been president -- ''wrong war, wrong place and wrong time.''

But he added: ''Russ made the right vote, I made the wrong vote, it's that simple.''

Feingold said the two men started working together on the issue when they both staked a position in meetings with fellow Democrats calling for a timetable to bring the troops back. Neither could persuade the group to go along.

''So we just decided to cooperate in order to strengthen our hand, and not just be operating on our own,'' Feingold recalled.

''We've worked together on a lot of things,'' Kerry said. ''We share a lot of strong beliefs about how badly the system needs to be reformed, and how screwed up Washington is.''

Payne, the former Kerry strategist, said the alliance poses risks for Feingold and Kerry.

''It's a trick for both of them because there's the potential that Kerry can look like he's backtracking, and Feingold has to be careful not to appear to be co-opted or bought off

[Dr Ron]

12. Previous posts disputing Kos nonsense

Good luck trying to explain the facts to the Kos Klass Klowns. If this helps here's plenty of background info on Kerry's position on the war and the distortions commonly used at Daily Kos. As it was one of the earlier posts at Liberal Values, I also added old related posts from Dem Daily under the fold.

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=17

[TayTay]

13. How easily they forget.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=47154&mesg_id=47167

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=47154&mesg_id=47167

[zann725]

15. I thought his best response was in his New Hampshire speech recently,

when he used some of the same "FOR"/"AGAINST" wording...readjusted slightly by shaming "a President who was FOR Torture, before he was AGAINST it." By cleverly using the comparison of "FOR" and "AGAINST...turning it against the Pugs in a different-yet-same context, he poignantly made his point from a new angle.